City Collab

Simplifying the Steps to Achieve 15-Minute Neighborhoods for Indian Cities

Jana Urban Space Foundation

SERVICES:

Position and Strategy

Creative

Production

Digital Outreach

DELIVERABLES:

Campaign Strategy | Project Film | Print Collaterals | Social Media Campaign

PROJECT LINKS:

Building 15 Minute Neighborhoods Film

Testing 15 Minute Neighborhood in Whitefield, Bengaluru

Indian neighborhoods are inherently mixed-use, with essential services and amenities woven into residential areas. With improved infrastructure and vibrant public spaces, these can truly transform into 15-minute communities.

CONTEXT

Cities in India are densely populated and feature a vibrant mix of shops, schools, and health facilities within residential neighborhoods—amenities that are crucial to our daily lives. However, accessing these essential spaces is often fraught with challenges, including inadequate infrastructure and limited mobility options, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists. Additionally, public spaces in these neighborhoods are scarce, further disadvantaging the most vulnerable members of society.

Jana Urban Space addressed these challenges through the 15-Minute Neighborhood framework for urban development in Indian cities, where every service and amenity needed to foster a good quality of life is accessible by a 15-minute walk or cycle ride. This approach encourages non-motorized, sustainable mobility, and creates inclusive urban environments. Funded by Mercedes Benz Research and Development India, they produced the Design Guidelines and Implementation Toolkit, based on extensive participatory research conducted in Bengaluru.

In India, around 18 million women use their homes as workplaces for tasks like agarbatti rolling, kite-making, packing, tailoring, and cooking. Additionally, homes also serve as work or storage spaces for street vendors and waste pickers. These homes, often located in informal settlements or low-income neighborhoods, are typically small, crowded, poorly constructed, and lack essential amenities like natural light, ventilation, water, and sanitation.

WIEGO has been a key to bringing attention to issues of home based workers globally by expanding knowledge on the informal economy, building networks among informal worker organizations and, influencing local, national and international policies. In 2020, WIEGO commissioned a documentation of the work of one of its member organizations, the Mahila Housing SEWA Trust (MHT) through a home-workplace lens.

THE ASK

Conceptualize and implement a multi-platform, multi-media campaign aimed at building awareness among decision-makers and community members about the 15-Minute Neighborhood framework, while also encouraging urban development professionals to adopt these principles in practice.

OUR APPROACH

Simplify technical urban planning and design strategies into relatable content using engaging videos, illustrated stories featuring local characters, and compelling social media posts tailored for the launch event and various platforms.

WHAT WE DID

Designed Illustrated Stories featuring Local Characters to Situate Urban Issues

The campaign kicked off with the “Know Your Neighborhood” series, introducing four illustrated characters from Bengaluru; Raghu from Chickpet, Basamma from Malleshwaram, Girish from Indiranagar, and Bindu and her mother from Nallurhalli. The characters were designed to reflect different social and demographic backgrounds. Through a narrative format integrating images, data, and maps, they narrated stories based on data collected from local surveys.

Facilitated On Ground Research through Video Documentation

We organized an engaging hands-on exercise for urban design interns, inviting them to select a neighborhood and embark on a 15-minute walking journey. During this exploration, they vlogged about their experiences, capturing the state of essential spaces that should be present in a 15-minute neighborhood. This fun and immersive exercise not only involved the interns in meaningful on-ground research but also highlighted that, while many necessary amenities exist, accessing them can often prove challenging.

Presented the Research Framework in a Film Format

To engage a diverse audience of decision-makers—including designers, planners, non-profit workers, and government officials—at the project launch event, we partnered with JUSP and MBRDI to create a compelling project film. This film illustrates the key principles of the 15-Minute Neighborhood framework and the design and policy recommendations for its implementation.

Engaged Local Community on Instagram

We launched an Instagram series aimed at demystifying aspects of the 15 Minute Neighborhood that people could advocate for. The series featured the work of existing local organizations in Bengaluru that shared the vision for inclusive urban development. We also reached out to these organizations through a messaging campaign to build relationships for future collaborations.

Tailored Content for Knowledge Sharing on LinkedIn

We designed a series of informative posters for LinkedIn targeting urban design and planning professionals. These posters serve as quick references for implementing various aspects of the 15-Minute Neighborhood framework and as print materials for distribution at local events